


Eyes Wide Open

by craterdweller



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: Bodyswap, F/M, Gen, Light Angst, Magic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-28
Updated: 2014-07-28
Packaged: 2018-02-10 18:17:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,342
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2035149
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/craterdweller/pseuds/craterdweller
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Takes place just after the Season 4 episode A New Man. Ethan Rayne needs Giles and Buffy out of the way temporarily and casts a spell that causes them to switch bodies. Buffy sees things from a new perspective. Mentions of Giles' time with Angelus but nothing graphic.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Eyes Wide Open

Ethan Rayne rubbed his hands together. Ripper and his Slayer wouldn’t know what hit them. The nerve, hauling him off to an American military compound. Bloody squaddies didn’t have a clue on how to contain a sorcerer of his skill. So here he sat on the floor of the rundown Sunnydale Motel ready to begin the ritual that would turn his old friend’s head. Well, it would certainly turn him. He lit the candles and began to chant.

Buffy stomped through the graveyard itching for a vampire to kill. She was pissed. Pissed at her boyfriend Riley, pissed at Giles and well, just generally pissed. She heard a twig snap behind her and she lashed out with a vicious spin kick.

“Ow!”

She froze, snapping back the arm that held the stake that had been about to deliver the killing blow. “Giles?”

Her Watcher grunted from a few feet away where he had landed after being on the receiving end of her kick. He rose unsteadily to his feet and Buffy rushed over to help him.

“What the hell are you doing sneaking up on me? I could have killed you!”

“I wasn’t sneaking up on you! I came out here to apologize. I sensed that you were angry with me earlier.”

She snorted. She was still pissed at him. She turned away from him in a childish display of temper and waited for him to grovel some more. When he didn’t say anything further she looked over her shoulder to see him holding his ribs. Concerned she moved back over to him. “Giles?”

He tried to smile at her in reassurance but he was having difficulty breathing.

“Oh my god. Giles!” She felt along his ribs and he yelped in pain.

“Cracked, I think. Not to worry. I’ll be alright.”

“Oh god. Let’s get you to the hospital. I’m sorry, Giles. I didn’t mean it.”

“I know. Don’t fuss. I’ll be fine.”

She had moved under his arm to steady him when they were hit by Ethan’s spell. They both dropped to the ground unconscious.

A group of vampires seeing the pair go down, moved in for the feed. Fortunately for the Watcher and Slayer, Spike had also witnessed their collapse and dispatched the vamps. He toed the Slayer with his boot. “Slayer? What the hell happened? Watcher get himself knocked out again?”

Giles slapped Spike’s boot away and the chipped vamp went flying through the air. What the? The pain in his ribs seemed to be gone, but he had a vicious cramp in his stomach. Well at least he wasn’t knocked unconscious this time. He sat up to check on Buffy and froze. For instead of seeing his Slayer lying in the cemetery, he saw himself. Then it hit him. Buffy had been helping him walk after cracking his rib and they had been hit by a spell. He held out his left hand. A small and feminine hand. He closed his eyes and growled, “Ethan!”

Spike had by now recovered and had stomped back over towards the person he thought was Buffy. “What the hell did you do that for? Next time, I’ll let them eat you and the sodding Watcher.” He stalked off towards his crypt, his black coat swirling behind him.

“Giles? Ow!” Buffy doubled over and clutched her ribs. Every breath brought excruciating pain. She tried to use one of the breathing techniques Giles had taught her. It helped, very slightly. Her Slayer healing didn’t usually take this long to kick in. She looked up just in time to see someone that looked exactly like her, kneel beside her.

“Buffy.” Giles shook his head. It sounded so strange to hear his Slayer’s voice instead of his own. His Slayer that was trying to edge away and who was obviously in intense pain. “Buffy, stop. It’s me, Giles. We were hit by a spell.”

She stopped moving because she needed to catch her breath not because she believed her doppelganger. She reached for the stake that she had tucked in the waistband of her jeans and froze when her hand encountered a wool sweater. She looked down at her right hand, It was large and male and blurry? She looked around and spotted Giles’ glasses on the ground. “What the hell happened? Giles?”

“Ethan, I presume. I felt the magic.” He moved closer and felt along her, or rather his ribs.

“OW!” She slapped his hands away. He saw his eyes fill with tears of pain. “Oh my god. And you were trying to tell me not to fuss! Giles …”

“Shh. Try and breathe slow and shallow. I’m going to get you home. I’ve something for the pain. Hang on, this will hurt a bit.” Without another word he stood and swept her up into his arms. Or he tried to. He had his Slayer’s strength but that did nothing for the fact that his body was so much taller and bulkier than hers. They toppled back to the ground and Buffy passed out from the pain. He used a fireman’s carry. Riley watched from the shadows as his girlfriend struggled with the much larger frame of her Watcher. He turned and headed back to his apartment. She didn’t want him patrolling with her because he was no longer strong like her, but she could take that washed up old man with her. Well, he’d leave her to him then.

Buffy awoke on her Watcher’s bed. At first she was embarrassed because he had removed the sweater and t-shirt but then she realized that it was nothing he hadn’t seen before. It was his body after all. She looked down at the bare torso. His chest was nicely filled out and covered with curly hairs. Brown with patches of grey. She touched them tentatively. They were soft. She’d always kinda wondered what chest hair would feel like. None of her boyfriends had any. She noticed a glass of water on the nightstand and reached for it with her right hand. It crashed to the floor. “Damnit!” She’d have to remember to use his left hand unless she wanted to totally trash the place. She heard footsteps on the stairs.

“How are you feeling, Buffy?”

Giles must have called Willow and the gang for a research party. “Better, I guess. Kinda wigged still. What time is it?” She looked up to see her best friend staring at her chest. She was a bit disconcerted until she remembered. Willow had a huge crush on Giles when they were in high school. Apparently she wasn’t as over it as she thought. She cleared her throat. “Uh, Wil. I’m up here.”

Willow’s face turned as red as her hair. “Oh god. Sorry. It’s just, well. Hehasanicechest.” They both giggled and then froze. Hearing a giggle coming from Giles was certainly of the weird. “It’s uh, a three a.m. Giles thinks he may have found something to reverse this but they need Ethan. He and Xander went looking for him.”

Buffy felt an insistent pressure and realized in horror that she needed to pee. Oh god.

“Buffy?”

“Uh Wil, I kinda needtopee,” she mumbled.

Willow laughed as she recalled Giles’ horrified reaction when he’d had to do the same earlier.

“Not funny and not helping!”

“Sorry.” She helped Buffy down the stairs and to the bathroom door.

“I’ll take it from here. I think he’d die of embarrassment if he thought we’d both had a look.” She smiled at her friend’s obvious disappointment. She closed the door and told herself she could do this. Maybe she could just close her eyes. Right and pee all over his floor. C’mon Buff, its not like you haven’t seen a penis before. She unbuttoned his fly and reached into his boxers. “Oh my god!”

“Buffy? Everything okay?” Willow asked from the other side of the door.

“Fine. Fine.” Buffy squeaked. She looked down and her Watcher’s member. Wow. He was bigger than Riley. Bigger than Angel. Then the reality of why she was in the bathroom in the first place reasserted itself. Business taken care of she struggled to get everything back inside. She’d never much thought about how guys did that, with the seam and all. But this time she remembered her Watcher was left-handed and got everything all tucked away without any mishaps. When she went over to the bathroom sink to wash her hands she got a better look at her Watcher’s torso. The bedroom had been dark before, so she hadn’t seen the crisscrossing of scars. She turned slightly so she could see his back where the scars were more pronounced. She closed her eyes. These were from Angelus. She’d never asked him and he’d never volunteered, but now there was no more room for pretending. When they got back into their own bodies, she’d have to talk to him.

The front door slammed open and she heard Ethan protesting. “The spell would wear off in a few days.” There was a loud smack and she heard her voice tell Ethan to reverse the spell.

“C’mon Ripper. You couldn’t have forgotten it. It’s such a simple reversal spell.”

There was another smack followed by Ethan gasping out agreement. She felt a tingle of magic and was happy to find herself standing behind a kneeling Ethan. She smacked him on the back of the head.

“Ow! What was that for Slayer? I reversed the spell.”

“It’s for being a creep. What the hell were you playing at Ethan?”

“Look. I had a job to finish or some nasty types were going to come after me. If you lot hadn’t sent me to Nevada, I wouldn’t have had to get you and Ripper out of the way. Like I told Ripper, it was only temporary. Where is your soldier boy anyway? He seemed a bit put out earlier. He didn’t even help you two get back here safely.”

“Riley saw us?”

“Yes, but I don’t think he’d realized you two had swapped bodies. Too bad, would have loved to watch him try and cop a feel while Ripper was in your body.”

She smacked him again. “Giles, what are we going to do with him?”

Her Watcher strode into the room and picked up his old friend by the hair. His eyes were ice cold. “I should kill you. I should have done it years ago.” He blinked. “I’ll talk with you all tomorrow. You should all go home.”

Xander, Willow and Anya left quietly, but Buffy refused to budge. “No. As much as I’d love to see the little weasel suffer, I’m not going to let you kill him, Giles.”

“Buffy, you could have been killed. You almost were killed. If Spike hadn’t come along when he had.”

“Spike knows?!”

“Er, no. I don’t think he realized about the body swap. But he saved us from a group of vampires.”

“Even so, I can’t let you kill him, Giles.”

“Buffy, I won’t let him hurt you again. He’s my responsibility. Now, please, just go on home to Riley and let me handle this.”

“No! And you are not responsible for him.”

“Buffy, if it weren’t for me, then Ethan wouldn’t be here.”

“So, you do think Angelus is my fault.”

“What?” Ethan took advantage of the Watcher’s distraction and bolted out the front door. “What does Angel have to do with anything?”

Buffy cringed inwardly. Giles had said Angel not Angelus. “Well, if you’re responsible for Ethan being here, than you must think I’m responsible for Angel turning into Angelus.” She looked down at the ground and sniffed.

“Buffy, look at me, please.” When she refused he walked over and gently lifted her chin. He wiped her tears with his thumb. “I told you that night in the car, and I will tell you again. You couldn’t have known. It is not your fault that Angel lost his soul.”

“But I didn’t get you out in time. He, he hurt you.” She stared at his scars and he blushed under her scrutiny. Most times he forgot about the scars and it had never been his intention for her to ever see them.

He turned to go upstairs and get a shirt. “I’m sorry, Buffy. I never wanted you to see them. I don’t even notice them anymore. Please don’t concern yourself over them. It’s in the past.”

She ran to him and pulled back just as she was about to throw herself into his arms. Instead she gently wrapped her arms around him, mindful of the cracked ribs. “Giles, maybe not tonight, but I think we need to talk about this.”

“Are you feeling any ill effects from the spell?”

“No, not the spell. Although, you’ve been hiding way too many things under the tweed and baggy sweaters,” she teased.

He turned a very bright shade of red. “Well, I’m just glad we didn’t run into Riley. He seems a nice enough lad, but he’s most definitely not my type.”

She giggled then sobered when she remembered what Ethan had said. “Riley and I are through.” She looped her arm around her Watcher’s. “Are you sure you don’t need to go to the hospital for the cracked ribs?”

“Don’t fuss, Buffy. I’m fine.”

“I’m going to fuss and you’re going to shut up about it.”  She helped him up the stairs and turned down the bed. She helped him sit on the edge and pulled of his shoes and socks. When she reached for his belt buckle, his hand shot out to stop her. “What? It’s not like I haven’t seen it before.”

“Buffy!”

“Well you had to pee! Besides, I only peeked a little.”

“Oh dear lord.” He fell back onto the bed and buried his head under the pillow. He heard his Slayer giggle as she went downstairs. “I’ll be down here if you need anything.”

He sighed. It was good to be back to normal. Although one of these days he was really going to kill Ethan.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> hc_bingo prompt: body/mind swap.


End file.
